Overwatch teases something new via robo-prodigy, Efi

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Looks like Blizzard are teasing something to do with a new character for Overwatch [official site]. They’ve put up an “interview” with 11-year-old robotic engineering prodigy, Efi Oladele, which is clearly teasing something on the robotics/AI front.

To be honest, as long as I never have to pick through a Sombra-style interminable ARG reveal event again I’m probably fine with whatever Efi’s interview presages.

The fictional Q&A is centred around Oladele being awarded a prestigious grant and what she might then go on to do with it. If you’re a fan of Blizzard’s reveal process or Overwatch lore the whole thing will be of interest. Similarly if you just like that Blizz are making their robo-genius a small girl from Numbani. For everyone else, it’s this bit:

Speaking of which, do you have any plans for what you’re going to do with your grant? New computer? College tuition?

Oh… I have an idea…

No hint?

It’s a secret for now… but my parents are taking me on a trip to celebrate! It’ll be my first time flying, so I can’t wait.

Given the wording and given it doesn’t seem likely Blizzard would want to stride merrily into a “we added a child soldier to our roster” PR bunfight the prevailing theory is that Oladele will be building the next hero or the next whatever the heck it is rather than head to the battlefield herself.

That said there are maybe some ways they could still involve Oladele in an indirect way, or make it explicit that she’s somehow not dying or killing. Alternatively it might skip forward in time and, I dunno, have her as a grown up going on to transplant her consciousness into a robo body like in that X-Files episode where people start uploading their consciousnesses to the internet. Or maybe she used the grant to start the Omnica Corporation which then led to that Omnic Crisis (the details of which I periodically look up and forget but if my current memory serves it was something vaguely like the Aug Incident in Deus Ex).

There’s also the fact that this might not even be a hero. It could be some kind of robotic-themed map or gear or… Look. We reached the sum total of what I know about this ^^ way back up there.

Unless this is somehow still part of that bloody Sombra reveal and even the addition of the actual hero to the game hasn’t stopped that confounded ARG.

Planar Weapon: you shot people and send them to a alternate universe without people (the mirrorverse).

Soul Transfer Kit: weapon that extract the soul of people, you can remove a (enemy)player control of his own character and fire him into a different (enemy)player so two players control the same character.

Swap Telekinesis: you simply transfer your position with the one the enemy player.

Biohacking: enemies appear enemies on the enemies hud, ffa is enabled for these players.

Batman Science Camera: shooting people with this camera analize the weakness and broadcast that data to other friend players so the smart weapons can aim to the weak points and score critic damage.